Ok, I wanna talk about atla and how it handles eastern philosophy and spirituality.
Atla is one most favourite shows of all time but even though all characters are poc the writers aren't and it shows to someone from that background. I think that most of westeners don't that path to nirvana/enlightenment/mukthi/moksha/ sath-chith-anandha and many other names for reaching the ultimate state of being doesn't necessarily mean a life where every emotion is shunned. Actually unconditional, pure love is equal to god (not at all in a western sense of the word) itself. In Hinduism ,you don't need to lead a life of a sanyasi (monk in very loose terms) to attain nirvana. There are infinite path to god.
For some reason, this is idea that only "attachment" stands between nirvana is prelevent in western media (eg. jedi and how their spirituality is depicted in sw, anyhow that is a whole another post).
Now, back to atla and how this is reflected in aang's character arc. I'd say his character is way too poorly handled for the titular character. On the episode with guru pathik and the chakras, aang's last barrier to the complete control of Avatar state should have been his unresolved trauma which includes the genocide of his people, his guilt regarding that and his dilemma of giving up the last vestige and most important vestige of his culture, i.e, non violence, specifically not killing anyone. Instead, it was his "attachment" to Katara. If Aang truely, unselfishly , purely loved Katara platonically or romantically, and I believe he did, then this would have stopped him acheive full control of the Avatar state. Creators should have thought of the main tenements of the philosophy religion they where inspired by.
Again, I don't think aang's trauma is given the weight it should be. The finale should have really gone deep into aang's issue. I don't have a problem with the lion turtle idea but it shouldn't have been an ex machina. The it foreshadowing was in the episode where the omashu story is told . The idea should have been brought in more organically and more tide-in with how Aang resolves his trauma. Maybe if Nickelodeon hadn't been to tight on creators and cut the 4th season, we could have gotten a more well written arc for Aang and could have empathized with him more.
Still, I really love atla and believe it is one the best shows out there.
